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Monday, 24 June 2013

My Design Process: Quincy Lampshades

I mentioned about 3 week ago about one of my designs (Windswept) being chosen by Ruth McAllister of Quincy Lampshades for her new Quincy Kepler collection. Very exciting!

She recently asked what the thought process behind my design was, it isn't a terribly exciting process but this design came about a little differently to some of my other designs so I thought I would share it with you all.

I was trying out some new ways of drawing, doing unusual techniques such as drawing with my eyes closed, drawing without taking the pencil off the paper, drawing completely to scale. Just to get some different sketches and see if this style suited me. The motifs for the Windswept design came from dissecting a photograph I had taken of a plant. I only drew very small sections or parts of the plant that I was drawn to. It didn't have to be the whole leaf or petal, I would only draw parts of it. Below you can see the photograph I worked from and below that some of my drawings.

I then put these motifs into Illustrator and played about a bit until I ended up with the motif from my Windswept design.

My initial thought was it looks like the seeds from a dandelion and when the wind blows them off they scatter through the air. Which was why I chose a tossed layout.

No huge revelations or a big back story but it is often a good idea to try out some different ways of drawing to try out a different style every now and then. Loosen up if you tend to draw fairly structured and neat, or try and neaten up if you are more of a freer drawer. You never know when you may come across a style you enjoy!